Upgrades MKII
by Tyrmer
Summary: What if the Armbands hadn't come off of SG1 during the mission? Rated T for later chapters and it migth be made even higher if I write anything too adult.
1. Chapter 1

SG-1 returned through the wormhole, Jack laughing and slapping Daniel on the shoulder, Daniel who was thoughtfully tossing a couple of hundred pounds weight of naquadah from hand to hand. Sam appeared to be giving a most put out Teal'c a piggyback.

"SG-1." Hammond said, walking up the ramp. "I presume the mission was a success."

"Just peachy, Sir." Jack said jovially. "The Jaffa didn't know what hit 'em, the ship is history and we managed to relieve them of a large amount of naquadah into the bargain."

"Enough to power roughly three hundred naquadah generators, sir." Sam butted in.

"I believe you may put me down now, Major Carter." Teal'c commented from his perch, the normally robust Jaffa was looking a trifle green.

"Sure thing Teal'c, I went and forgot you were up there, you weigh no more than a rag doll these days." Sam replied, putting Teal'c down carefully, as if he might break. "Well we couldn't exactly wait for you could we?"

"Next time I believe I shall catch you up, Major Carter." Teal'c replied, clinging onto the railing.

"And the armbands did not come off?" Asked Anise timidly.

"N-o." Said Daniel. "Should they of?"

"Anise has something to tell you." Said Janet, coming up behind the Tok'ra as if to stop her running away. Anise visibly flinched.

"I may not have been completely open with you about the Atineek's extinction." She confessed. "The Atineek warriors' bodies eventually devised an immunity to the organism that the armbands use to increase the wearers physical attributes."

"So these babies are gonna' stop working and fall off?" Jack asked; looking like the world was about to end. "Damn sneaky snakeheads." He burst out. "No offence Carter, your dad, like a brother to me, but these damn Tok'ra always leave out the bad news when they share their little toys or schemes."

"Actually Colonel." Anise said, ignoring his outburst. "According to my calculations they should have fallen off shortly before you finished your mission." She pulled out her Tok'ra computer and pressed a few buttons, her face was a mask of surprise when she looked up. "Apparently there is no trace of the virus in their systems, most strange."

"You mean we get to keep them?" Piped up Daniel, carelessly tossing a block of naquadah over his shoulder where Sam fielded it before it could severely inconvenience Teal'c.

"It would appear that either Tauri physiology is significantly different to Atineek to the point that the armband technology is perfected, or my theories on the extinction of the Atineek's are drastically wrong. With a little more experimentation and study I'm sure I could…"

"Oh I think they've had quite enough lab rat experience." Hammond quickly said, before Janet had a chance to do the deed her eyes were already trying to do to the back of Anise' head. "Although I'm sure they'll welcome it if it means they won't have to attend their impending court marshal!"

"Yeah about that, general." Jack said, taking off his hat and holding it in front of him like a man at a funeral. "I'm really, really sorry about that, sir."

"Yeah, me too." Said Sam.

"Yeah, me, er, three." Added Daniel, even though he technically couldn't be court marshalled. There was a pause as all three looked at Teal'c who remained silent through the apologies.

"I have no need to apologise." He said, walking down the ramp to the awaiting SFs who took his staff and other accoutrements.

"Teal'c was actually following orders, and about the court marshals." Hammond said. "Given the success of the mission I think we can waive them under "diminished responsibility", dismissed." 'They should put a tick box on the form for "under the influence of alien technology.' He mused to himself as SG-1 filed down the ramp after Teal'c to their routine post-op check up in silence. The silence was only broken by an SF's screams as a backpack full of naquadah was dropped on his foot.

"Oh and Doctor." Hammond called after Janet, who was ministering to the SF's foot. "Make sure to use the really BIG needles." He said, just loudly enough for the retreating SG-1 to hear.


	2. Chapter 2

Hammond walked out of his office shaking his head.

"It appears that the President is of the opinion that, as the armbands cannot be removed without major surgery and don't seem to be coming off by themselves, we should make use of the strategic advantage they give us." He announced.

"Well good for him I say sir." Jack burst out, and promptly shut up when Hammond glared at him. "Sorry sir."

"And, as I was about to say, I am inclined to agree with him." He said; then continued quickly before Jack could have another chance at an outburst. "I will need to see a marked increase in your ability to make rational decisions and your behaviour, no more sneaking off base. I shall schedule sessions with Dr Mackenzie with all three of you."

"Aw sir! Not the shrinks." Jack whinged.

"Its either that or a permanent retraction from duty!" Hammond said menacingly. Janet walked into the room holding her omnipresent clipboard that held power over everyone on the base.

"Well the good news is that they are in perfect health, more than perfect health." She said sitting down. "Their metabolisms are still raised but a healthy and regulated diet should cope with that. The narcotic effect doesn't seem to be fading but with training and constant concentration we should be able to avoid further "accidents." Oh and Daniel, lieutenant Harries' foot will be fine and he'll be back on duty in a few months, he appreciated the fruit basket although he did have an allergic reaction to the apricots." Daniel hung his head in shame.

"So they are in fine health to continue missions?" Hammond asked, knowing what the answer would be but hoping it might possibly change.

"Physically yes sir." Janet said, knowing that Jack would…

"Yes!" Shouted Jack, punching the air.

"Very well, contingent on getting good results in your psychological examinations you are back on active duty." Hammond said wearily. "Dismissed, now get out of my sight." He waved them away, and they disappeared in a blur and a cry of

"Last one to the commissary doesn't get fed." from Jack.

"I shall go to my quarters and kelnorim." Teal'c said, and walked out of the room at a somewhat slower pace. Thinking about his future role at the SGC now his teammates were so powerful, he was pleased for them that they would be able to effect great change and possibly overthrow the Gou'ald by themselves. But he couldn't help but feel that he would only slow them down on missions, but surely he wasn't jealous? He decided to meditate on it during his kelnorim.

Janet moved round the table to Hammond.

"Don't worry General, I'm sure they'll be alright." She said reassuringly. "I know you worry about them."

"Except now I don't have to worry about them being captured or killed by anything less than a whole army, I just have to worry about them killing themselves through their own stupidity." He laughed cynically. "The people I feel most sorry for are whoever gets between them and the dessert counter. And what about Teal'c? How's he going to fit into a team with three supermen?"

"I'm sure they'll cope General, they are a team." Said Janet comfortingly. "After all, they're SG-1."


	3. Chapter 3

Next morning, in the commissary, SFs and SG team members were quietly eating meals, doing reports, and generally lazing around before they went offworld. Suddenly the doors banged open and three blurs whizzed into the room, past the counters (vast amounts of food, especially dessert, suddenly going missing) and over to a table where they shifted into Jack, Sam and Daniel.

"Well that was the fastest we've ever been served food before." Daniel commented, adding salt to his mountain of chips and reaching for the ketchup bottle, which spontaneously ruptured when he gripped it. Covering the nearby tables (and indeed the ceiling) with tomato sauce.

"Sorry guys." He called to everyone around them, most of whom quickly moved tables. He wiped the ketchup off his hands with a napkin, then grabbed another one and cleaned the table up faster than onlookers could blink.

"Just think of how much time we can save with these." Sam said, dipping into the tray of blue jello she'd taken from the counter. SG-1 seemed to have mutually decided that in the interests of enjoyment and safety they wouldn't use their increased speed whilst just hanging out, eating or talking however, because it made life so much less interesting when you could have an entire discussion in five seconds flat, or finish a meal in three! Besides, food still had to obey the laws of physics, especially momentum.

"Yeah, perhaps I might get round to doing some paperwork." Jack said, taking a huge bite out of a burger, then looked at his teammates.

"Nah." They all said together, burst out laughing and tucked in. Food disappearing quickly even without their increased speed, their increased metabolisms meant that they were famished.

Suddenly Sam started choking wildly, the spasms running through her body, her eyes wide with shock and her face turning red.

"SAM!" Daniel cried.

"CARTER!" Jack cried at the same time, rushing round to her side of the table and grabbing her, administering the Heimlich to his suffocating 2IC. She retched up a small amount of blue liquid and the end of her spoon, which buried itself in the opposite wall like a .50 caliber bullet1, making a neat hole in the report one of the marines had been holding up, he whimpered as he ran out of the room, nursing the scratch where the ballistic cutlery had caught him.

"Thanks, Sir." She said, gasping for breath.

"Your welcome Carter." Jack replied, slightly shocked at what had happened.

"Just goes to show." Said Daniel. "We're not invincible, even with these things." He waved the arm that he was wearing his armband on. He looked down, and saw that he had left finger shaped dents in the table where he'd gripped when Sam had started coughing.

"Uh, you can let go now Sir." Sam said pointedly to jack, who was still gripping her round the middle, though secretly she wished he could stay holding her.

"Oh! Yes, of course." Jack said; throwing his arms back, away from his regs-ridden 2IC, cursing his luck, though he secretly wished he could hold onto her forever, of course her choking to death didn't fit into that vision of happiness.

"SG-1 to the briefing room." Sgt Harriman's voice came over the tannoy.

"Finish up kids." Jack said, and they quickly (but not for them) finished their food and speeded off to find out what Hammond wanted. Minus lift time it only took them thirty seconds.

Meanwhile Teal'c was in his quarters, kelnoriming. He was troubled; his friends had achieved great strength and speed, desirable of any warrior. But it was embedded in him that a warrior's true strength should come from within, not from enhanced technology. A weapon was just an extension of a warrior's body, enabling him to affect an enemy at a distance, but he still has to be a skilled combatant, and trained to sue a weapon. But these armbands gave strength and speed without discipline; in fact they leeched from his friends the discipline they already had, making them reckless.

'I must consult with Master Bra'tac.' He mused. His wise master would know what to do; he was and always had been a strong pillar of wisdom and decision to lean on when Teal'c was in doubt. The tannoy stirred him from his meditation and he quickly performed his daily ablutions and headed for the briefing room, at a considerably more dignified pace than the rest of SG-1.

1For none military geeks, a .50 caliber bullet is a heavy machine gun round half an inch in diameter.


	4. Chapter 4

When SG-1 got to the briefing room it was to find Jacob Carter and General Hammond standing by the gate' room window and talking.

"Dad." Sam said, running towards him and embracing him in a hug, something cracked.

"Owe, hey kiddo." He said.

"Oh my God Dad I'm so sorry." Sam said, letting go quickly.

"It's nothing Selmak can't handle, I'm sure I'll forget to file it as an assault on a superior officer if you could have some time for your old Dad." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Sure thing Dad." Sam said smiling, but inwardly she was worried that she'd managed to break a bone just by hugging someone. What else could they do by accident? Jack had already nearly killed Siler.

"General." Jack said. "What's up?"

"Jacob and Selmak have come here to give us news that Apophis is putting together a strike force to attack Earth again. It seems you ticked him off by destroying his new prototype ship."

"Yes, but this time it shall be more than just two mother ships." Selmak said, the change in his voice and facial features still creeping Sam out. It was just weird to see and hear her dad acting so, well, alien.

"What's he got?" Daniel asked.

Selmak placed a small counter on the briefing table. It produced a hologram of a planet.

"This is a planet in Apophis' domain called Cirris. Our operative there has sent word that Jaffa have been coming through the gate in droves, somewhere in the order of five hundred thousand. And apparently Apophis has some new secret weapon to use on you. He also has a fleet of nine Ha'Tak in orbit."

"Wow, we must have really pissed him off." Jack said.

"What are the Tok'Ra planning Selmak?" Teal'c asked.

"To be honest Teal'c, we don't have a plan." Jacob said honestly. "Our operative doesn't have the means to sabotage even one mother ship without being caught, or removing even the smallest portion of troops. All he has managed to find out is that the Jaffa will be armed with some kind of new weapon modelled on Taur'i technology. But that is sketchy information at best."

"How then are we to stop this threat?" Teal'c asked, looking puzzled.

"Well we figured that your best chance is a pre-emptive strike to knock out as much of his armada as possible. Without ships he won't be able to transport his troops." Jacob said.

"So what your saying, is that you have another mission that has conveniently come up when SG-1 has acquired vastly superior military hardware?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, except for this time the threat is sudden and unforeseeable. Apophis is doing this in retribution for his lost ship."

"SG-1, your previous mission has restored my confidence that you can hold yourselves in a dangerous and stressful situation, but I'm still concerned. This mission will be entirely voluntary; I wouldn't order anyone to face these odds. So if you would take one step forward…" Hammond said, but before he could finish, Jack, Sam and Daniel all took one super speeded step forward. Teal'c remained where he was.

"If I go on this mission General Hammond, I believe that I should only be a liability, not possessing the great strength and speed of the rest of my team." Teal'c said in his normal, serious tone. Not sounding either jealous or angered. Merely stating a fact.

"Good point Teal'c, in fact I was going to point that out if you had volunteered." Hammond confessed. "SG-1 you…"

"General Hammond." Teal'c butted in. "I instead ask for some time of leave."

"Very well Teal'c, but first this mission must be prepared for in every detail. Your insight on Gou'ald and Jaffa tactics will make for a useful asset." Hammond pointed out.

"I agree General Hammond, I shall leave after SG-1 has started their mission to Cirris." Teal'c said, nodding his head stoically.

"SG-1 I'm scheduling this mission for 13:00 hours tomorrow when it shall be night on Cirris, I'm told by Doctor Fraiser that you all have perfect night vision." Hammond said. "Between now and then I want every one of you along with Jacob and Selmak to come up with every tactical edge and advantage possible. Dismissed." Hammond walked off into his office.


	5. Chapter 5

General Hammond and Jacob Carter were standing in the 'Gate Room when SG-1 came in. Jack, Sam and Daniel in their black "saving the world outfits" as Jack had dubbed them, and Teal'c in his Jaffa robes he always wore on leave. SG-1 were kitted out with so much hardware, armaments, ammunition and supplies that under normal conditions they wouldn't be able to stand up; never mind run.

"Chevron five locked."

"Got everything you need?" Jacob asked sassily. "I think there's still a sink in the kitchen." He grimaced, not sure if he really wanted his daughter going into a situation like this with only two team members to back her up, albeit both she and they had super human strength, endurance and speed. But he'd seen their psych files and it wasn't good, their faculties were severely reduced and they tended to take very rash decisions. There was also the overhanging threat that the armbands might stop working at some point, possibly on this mission.

"Chevron six encoded."

"Come to see us off Dad?" Sam said, smiling. That was her dad, watching her leave on an important mission and he'd make some kind of quip.

"Something like that Kiddo." Jacob said, hugging his heavily laden daughter. She gingerly hugged him back, trying not to break another rib.

"Jacob and Selmak will be accompanying SG 3 to Cirris to hold the gate." Hammond said.

"Chevron six locked."

"But…" Jack butted in.

"No butts Colonel." Hammond stopped him. "This is an order. Besides they won't be stepping through the gate until you radio the other side is clear, and you WILL be radioing us because otherwise they will be coming through in ten minutes time whether it is clear or not to drag you back for court marshal, understood?"

"Okay." Jack said, looking downhearted. He had hoped they would be given free reign to be creative on this mission. Get in; make as much havoc as possible; get out. Getting their hands on Apophis' new weapon would be an added bonus of course.

"Chevron seven encoded and locked."

The 'gate opened and SG-1 and SG-3 prepared to embark. Jack tugged the pins out of two tear gas grenades and threw them through the awaiting event horizon, from the bottom of the ramp.

"Ral Tora Ke, my friends." Teal'c said, placing his hand on Jack's shoulder, then Sam's, and then Daniel's.

"Uh, good luck." Daniel translated. And they whizzed through the 'gate to whatever awaited.

"You attached the trackers?" Jacob asked Teal'c.

"Yes." Teal'c nodded his head. "I attached them as you requested General Carter."

"Good." Said Hammond, walking back up to the control room. "I want to know where they are whenever I open the 'gate."

Teal'c stood watching the rippling event horizon while SG-3 stood checking their gear, they weren't quite so heavily kitted out as SG-1. The sounds of staff fire, bullets and the general auditory detritus of battle drifted through the radios while they waited.

"This is Colonel O'Neill reporting the Cirris 'gate clear." Came Jack's voice over the radio eventually after nine and a half minutes waiting. "We are setting off now to see what we can see, hold the fort SG-3."

"Yeah, pick me up a t-shirt." Ferretti quipped into the radio. "But a mother ship wouldn't go amiss, so long as it's nicely done out; plush curtains, shag pile carpets, the works you understand?"

"Loud and clear Ferretti, watch our sweet sixes while we're gone."

"Oh we will." Ferretti replied; looking at the handheld computer he'd been given to watch SG-1s movements on. "We will, over and out."

Jacob Carter and SG-3 lined up to enter the 'gate. Hammond gave them the green light and they quickly left to see what awaited them on Cirris; Teal'c waited for Walter to dial up Chulack then stepped through with a nodded head and a bow to General Hammond. Once on the other side he walked briskly to the city, and to the house where Bra'tac currently resided, sticking to the shadows to avoid confrontation with any Jaffa who still considered him sholva. He knocked, and nearly died of surprise when the door was answered not by his old friend and mentor, but by his first beloved, Shaun'ac.


End file.
